Banner Graphic, Greencastle, Putnam County, 10 May 1973 — Page 11

Thursday, May 10, 1973

Banner-Graphic, Greencastle, Indiana

Pag* 11

GOLD SET OFF STAMPEDE

Sioux Indians Attempt To Gain Lost Ground In Treaty Violation

WASHINGTON (AP) -Sioux Indians have been trying since 1923 to recover in court what was taken from their ancestors in violation of treaties with the United States. The Sioux claim is one of the oldest pieces of litigation in the country. It also was one of the basic issues in the confrontation between federal marshals in Indian militants at Wounded Knee, S.D. If their treaties had been honored, the Sioux would own or have rights in two-thirds of South Dakota and portions of North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Kansas. The United States government recognized Sioux title to the major portion of this territory in a treaty signed with the Plains Indians at Fort Laramie, Wyo., in 1851. In return the Sioux granted rights of passage to miners rushing across the continent to California’s new gold fields. But the discovery of gold in Montana 10 years later put a fatal strain on the treaty and introduced the government’s policy of winking at its agreements when white interests crossed Indian rights. By 1865 Bozeman, Helena and Virginia City were booming mining towns, and the miners

were complaining about the difficulty of getting supplies to the isolated country. That summer the government began surveying a new road running out of Laramie through the rolling green foothills of the Big Horn Mountains to Bozeman. This was the Sioux’s finest hunting ground. When Chief Red Cloud protested the treaty violation, the government answered by sending in troops who began building three forts along the proposed route. War followed, and the Indians won. Congress felt that the way to peace was to separate white settlers and travelers from the Indians. For that to work, the Indians would have to curtail their life style for protected lives on fixed reservations. So a second Fort Laramie Treaty was signed on April 29, 1868. In return for government protection and annuities, the Indians agreed to stay away from established roads and to stop raiding white travelers. The government abandoned the Bozeman Trail and the three forts along it, which were burned to the ground. The Indians were promised provisions, supplies, education and other benefits. To this day the Sioux contend the government didn’t deliver

nearly all it promised. The new treaty defined the Great Sioux Reservation as all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River—about half the state. All the land north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains was declared “uncedcd Indian territory” in which the Sioux could move and hunt. This unceded land took in adjacent corners of North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and Nebraska. But trouble began to develop immediately. When Red Cloud took his Oglalas to Fort Laramie the following spring to trade and pick up treaty supplies, he was told the Sioux trading post was 300 miles away at Fort Randall near Pierre, S.D. on the Missouri River. The ploy was obvious. Forcing the Sioux to trade on the Missouri would effectively restrict them to the reservation and draw them from the hunting grounds coveted by the whites. Red Qoud refused to be corralled, and with the backing of 1,000 armed warriors did his trading at Laramie. But the Army turned away other Indians and made it clear Red Cloud would not be allowed

back again. That led to negotiations in Washington and a dispute over treaty terms. After a face-to-face confrontation with President Ulysses S. Grant, the Indians got a new interpretation. They would, after all, be allowed to live in the Indian territory outside the reservation and did not have to go to the reservation to trade and receive their goods. The reservation ground itself, including the gold-rich Hack Hills, was literally guaranteed to the Sioux forever. Even the off-reservation hunting grounds were secured to the Indians alone. “No white person or persons shall be permitted to settle upon or occupy any portion erf the territory,” the treaty said, “or without the consent of the Indians first had and obtained, to pass through the same.” But pass through they did, in quest of gold. After Lt. CoL George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 expedition confirmed gold in the Black Hills “from the grass roots down,” the gold rush was on. Miners flooded into the sacred Indian country in defiance of the treaty. Another government commission was appointed to bargain for the Black Hills. When it failed. Grant withdrew the pro-

tective troops, and the last restraint on the white intruders was removed. The secreatry of the interior, with Grant’s endorsement, asked Congress to cut off the treaty-promised provisions unless the Sioux agreed to sell their holy ground. Congress failed to act and the secretary decided to force the issue. In clear violation of the treaty of 1868, he ordered all Sioux off their guaranteed hunting grounds and into close confinement on the reservation. The Sioux began preparing to resist. Grant sent Gen. Philip Sheridan to subjugate them and protect the white trespassers. It was in this campaign of armed abrogation of a treaty that Custer’s last command was wiped out. But the Sioux eventually were herded onto the reservation. When news of Custer’s disaster reached Washington, Congress responded by undoing what was left of the treaty and cutting off all appropriations for subsistence of the Sioux. Restricted to small areas on their reservation, unable to reach their hunting grounds and denied sustenance from the government, the Sioux were left with the choice of selling or starving. Despite threat erf starvation, less than 10 per cent of the

Sioux braves signed the agreement forced on them. This agreement was ratified by Congress on Feb. 28, 1877 even though the treaty of 1868 had required that at least threefourths of the adult male Indians agree to any changes. Through the years, by threat, cajolery or promises never kept, the gavernment continued to chip away at the Sioux lands. It placed the Sioux on six small reservations carved out of the once “Great Sioux Reservation.” From a domain that once covered 130 million acres in seven staes, the Sioux are left today with 6i9 million acres. The Sioux cause is still being argued in the courts and before the Indian Claims Commission, established by Congress in 1946 to hear Indian grievances and pleas for restitution. Within recent years the Commission affirmed Sioux title to their former hunting grounds along the Missouri river, about 48 million acres, and another 7 million acres of Black Hills country, originally part of the great reservation. This does not mean the Indians will get their land back. The most they can hope for is some compensation for their losses, if their claim is sustained through appeals, and if a price can be fixed based on val-

Your problem is the concern of our troubleshooters--24 hours a day - -7 days a week.

Beginning TODAY when you call “Repair Service” you may think we’re asking more questions than necessary.

But if you have a phone problem, the few minutes you spend answering our questions could mean getting your phone back into service faster (fewer minutes for the repairman’s visit, or perhaps no visit at all -- if we can « fix your phone problem in-office).

Beginning TODAY we are implementing a new way of handling , your trouble reports that we believe will result in a faster and better phone _ -| repair for you.

We’d like to be called the prob-lem-solvers, so won’t you help us, help you, because we’re full of questions.

GEflERAL TELEPHORE COmPAfiy Of= IflDIAflA, IRC.

ues at the time the land was lost. In 1969 and 1970 the value of the Black Hills area was argued in court. The Sioux claimed it was worth about $28 million in 1877 value. The government said $4.7 million. In 1971 the Indian Claims Commission heard arguments on the value of the former

hunting grounds along the Missouri River. The Sioux claimed $62.5 million, the government $12 million. The Indians still await decisions from the commission on the value question and appeals to the Court of Claims. The government is asking that the case be dismissed on technicalities.

"Feline Prone;” Loved By Cats

DALLAS Tex. (AP) — One of the more troublesome ailments of mankind is an illness called “feline prone.” Anyone who has this sickness sympathizes with those women, often elderly, who make the news pages because they are found to have 20 or more cats in their house in violation of some city ordinance. To be “feline prone” is to be loved by cats. Thus a householder who likes these animals is in danger of having more around than he really wants. Take some recent neighborhood examples. In one instance, a family down the block had an affectionate female alley version of the cat family. Then the family obtained a Siamese kitten. This put Alley’s nose out of joint, and the next morning we nearly tripped over her as we went to get the morning paper. Alley stayed on the front stoop for about three days, meowing piteously and growing visibly thinner, a trick cats have when they want sympathy. At last some kind soul in the household gave her a snack. Now she considers herself our cat, a constant companion on our doorstep except in bad weather when she finds her way into the garage. We acquired another cat some years ago which we will call Rusty. He grew thinner by the minute. Still, we dinT want to feed him and be accused of stealing the neighbor’s animal. But it finaUy became such a pitiful situation that occasionally a piece erf scrap would fall accidentally out the door. And in no time at all. Rusty considered himself our cat. It all started with a ceremony. The neighbor decided Rusty had fleas and invited all the neighborhood over for a defleaing party. He had bought a tube of flea powder that emits a puff of medication when you squeeze it. The neighbor took Rusty in his left arm and the squeeze tube in his right hand and started to apply the first puff. Rusty at that moment turned his head to see what was going on and got the first puff right in his mouth. It was pure panic. Rusty tried to get away and dug in his claws for traction. The neighbor tried to hold him and only got slashed some more. Rusty made one great jump to a porch pillar, then to the roof and across it in a great circle, ’eaped to the ground and jumped an eight-foot fence. It was the last time the neighbor ever saw Rusty. Went over the next afternoon to see how the neighbor was recovering and was met by his wife. “He’s sleeping right now,” she said. “Had to feed him a tranquilizer and put him to bed about 4 o'clock this morning. “He was up all night, going up and down the alleys, calling, ‘Kitty, kitty, kitty.’ “The police picked him up

twice. ‘If somebody doesn’t find that cat, he’s going to have to take a round of rabies shots.” So Rusty showed up at our house, but the only signs of madness came at feeding times. Turned out he went wild when the menu was sardines. Small Business Week Slated Next Week NEW YORK (AP) - Attempting to improve an environment they feel should be more friendly, many businessmen next week observe Small Business Week, appropriately enough in Washington, close, they feel, to both problem and solution. There are, by all reliable estimates, between five million and eight million small businesses in America today, employing 44 per cent of all employes and producing 37 per cent of the Gross National Product. From their point of view, these small, independently owned businesses form the backbone of many American towns and small cities, providing jobs, taxes, and leadership. They feel also that they are the spiritual guardians of innovation and invention. You might also say that they keep their bigger cousins supplied. General Motors, largest manufacturer of all, depends upon 26,000 suppliers, 64 per cent of which employ less than 100 people, and 89 per cent less than 500. But small business, so obvious to the eye wherever you go, is afraid of being perpetually eclipsed, shadowed ty big business, which grows bigger and perhaps less representative of “business” each year. What’s good for big business isn’t always so for smaller companies. In fact, says Lewis A. Shattuck, an especially clear articulator of its views, “there is some doubt that some businessmen ever would have gone into business if the same environment today existed 10 to 20 years ago.” Shattuck is executive vice president of the Smaller Business Association of New England, for 30 years one of the most active small-business groups, and formulator of a presentation to be presented to congressmen May 16. Joining in the presentation this year are the Independent Business Association of Wisconsin, and the Smaller Manufacturers Council, Pittsburgh, and other groups from Ohio and New York. More are expected to join next year. ' One of the four major proposals to be presented concerns paper, the usage of which once was supposed to suggest the advanced stage of society but which now threatens to clog government, the stock market, snail business and other institutions.

NOTICE OF SALE OF REAL ESTATE The und«rtign*d Administrator of th* sstate of ANDREW HENRY BOWEN do*sh*r*bygiv*notic* that on tho 12th day of May, 1973, at 10:00 o'dock, a.m., at th# First National Bank of Coatosvillo, Indiana, said Administrator will offor for salo, at privat# sal# and for not loss than th# appraised valu#, th# following d#scrib*d r#al #stat#, to wit: Lets #5, 10 A 19 in Blair's Addition located at R.R. 2, Coatosvill#, Indiana; th# so ms being th# lot# resident of Andrew H#nry Bowen. Sealed bids will b* received until the hour of sale. Those submitting sealed bids will have the right to increase the highest bid submitted in multiples of *100.00. Said sale to continue from day to day thereafter until sold. The Administrator reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to readvertise. The estate will pay 1972 taxes due in 1973. The 1973 taxes payable in 1974 will be pro-rated. FIRST NATIONAL BANK Coatesville, Indiana Administrator KENDALL, STEVENSON, HOWARD A LOWRY 1 South Washington Street Danville, Indiana 46122 745-4408 Attorneys for Estate For infemnation call B. E. Lydick or Mr. Phillips of the First National Bank of Coatesville, Indiana.

h